


Darling Lena

by ThisOldThing



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fluffy, Friends to Lovers, Music Mention, One Shot, Realization, canon adjacent, quick writing challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 23:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17876867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisOldThing/pseuds/ThisOldThing
Summary: Kara hears the Prince song, "Little Red Corvette", and cannot for the life of her understand why it makes her think of her best friend, Lena Luthor.





	Darling Lena

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will make more sense if you listen to Prince's songs, "Little Red Corvette" and "Darling Nikki".

“Kara. Kara.” Alex snapped her fingers in front of Kara’s face and Kara startled, looking at Alex owlishly.

“What?”

“Where are you?” Alex asked, her brow knit.

“My apartment,” Kara replied slowly, not understanding the question.

Alex frowned. “Your ice cream is melting.”

Kara looked down at the pint held in front of her chest, her spoon held upright in a tight fist. “Oh.” She put the pint in her lap and half-heartedly stabbed her spoon in the softening ice cream.

“Everything OK?” Alex asked, amused. “Did something happen at work?”

“No,” Kara huffed. Alex watched Kara stew out of the corner of her eye, and waited patiently for her sister to get whatever was clearly bothering her off of her chest. “So, I went to the store today for band-aids,” Kara began suddenly, and Alex’s face crumpled in soft affection. Kara wearing band-aids despite never needing them was a hold over from their teenage years, when they often went to ridiculous lengths to make Kara seem human. “And when I was standing in line, waiting for this woman to redeem three feet worth of coupons–”

“Oh I hate coupons,” Alex muttered, taking a bite of ice cream.

“This, _song_ , came on and it was…” Kara sighed, obviously perplexed. 

“It was…” Alex spun her spoon in circles to urge more.

“It reminded me of Lena.”

“Oh?” Alex asked, clearly interested in the observation.

“So, I Shazam’d it and it was a song by Prince.”

Alex’s eyebrows shot to her forehead. “A Prince song reminds you of Lena?”

“Yeah,” Kara said, giving Alex a quick, confused double take. 

“Which song?”

“Little Red Corvette?” Kara said, not understanding why Alex was looking at her like that. 

“Continue,” Alex said, taking another bite of ice cream.

“So, I liked the song so much that I bought it and…” Kara pressed her lips together.

“And…?” Alex asked, invested.

“It was really good,” Kara mumbled. She took a bite of her ice cream. “When I got home, I downloaded a compilation of his hits and they were really–” She blushed, leaned into Alex and lowered her voice. “They were really sexual.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, very amused. 

“It’s just weird,” Kara said, righting herself and taking a pensive bite of her ice cream as Alex watched her, amazed by her obliviousness. “Maybe I heard it at an L-Corp gala one time and that’s why it reminded me of Lena?”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” Alex said, raising her eyebrows again and taking a bite of her ice cream.

Kara looked at Alex, and her brow deeply knit, as if Alex was keeping something from her. “What?”

“What?” Alex parroted as innocently as she could. Kara arched her eyebrows, challenging her sister’s faux innocent act, and Alex mimicked Kara’s arched brow expression in reply. They stared at each other for a long moment before Alex’s shoulders fell in exasperation. “Really?” 

Kara held up her hands and shrugged, not understanding what Alex was silently trying to communicate to her.

“Kara,” Alex said, as if saying her name in her best big sister tone would inspire Kara to have a Eureka moment.

Kara smiled, bewildered, and Alex rolled her eyes, going back to her ice cream. Kara regarded her sister for a long moment, her face cautiously curious like a puppy’s during a first interaction with a tortoise. “Oh,” Kara finally said, her face morphing with recognition. Alex nodded her head, relieved she wasn’t going to have to explain the Prince-Lena connection when Kara smiled widely. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even ask about your day. How did the thing go, with that Congressman?”

Alex stared at her blankly before nodding, stabbing her ice cream. So the Prince song wasn’t going to be the revelation they’d all been waiting for since Kara first invited Lena to game night. “Good, it was, good.”

Kara swiveled on the couch to face Alex. “Tell me all about it.” She smiled widely and took a bite of ice cream, and Alex exhaled, her shoulders slumping, as she realized Kara’s oblivousness to her massive crush on the woman who was most definitely crushing on her, Lena Luthor, was never going to end.

*******************************************************

Kara’s love of Earth music took some time to cultivate. At first, it was too loud, too jangly to enjoy, and too different from the music she loved on Krypton to feel any affection for. And then once she got used to the sound, she realized there were social expectations and pressures surrounding what one liked, causing her to feel uncomfortable pushing her musical boundaries. Alex, for instance, was constantly belittling her tastes, becoming aggressively protective of the bands and songs she liked and turning hostile whenever Kara dared to express shared admiration. For 12-year-old Kara, liking music seemed to be a bit of a minefield. 

So Kara spent the first few years on Earth seeking safety from music. She listened to Jeremiah’s Garth Brooks CDs and Eliza’s Belinda Carlisle cassette tapes. By the time she was in high school and making friends of her own, Kara’s tastes were squarely in the bubblegum pop realm of their small-town radio station. She dutifully bought NSYNC records, and kept a mix of Karaoke favorites on her phone. She was not adventurous, and prior to her trip to the drugstore, had never given Prince a second thought.

And now, Prince was all she could listen to. The music made her feel light and happy and tingly in a way that felt strange in the best way possible. Kara liked to think she was not a prude, but the way Prince sang so openly and confidently about his desires left her blushing through bright smiles like a teenager. His music felt fluttery and fun and sexy. And familiar, because every song seemed to make her think about Lena, a connection that though not unwelcome, was endlessly perplexing. What was it about Prince that reminded her so strongly of Lena? 

Listening to a lot of Prince seemed to have some side effects on Kara’s day-to-day life. Some were good, like the desire to dance around her apartment as she cleaned, or snort laugh when she listened to his homage to Gotham’s ridiculous Bat Vigilante, ‘BatDance’. Others were… not bad, but maybe, confusing? Exceesively listening to Prince songs seemed to inspire some very spicy dreams that, while she couldn’t remember the specifics of them, certainly left her feeling hot and bothered when she woke up. Hot and bothered, and vaguely thinking of Lena. The look on Kara’s face most mornings as she brushed her teeth and processed her body’s odd reactions could only be described as epically confused.

It was a week after her Prince awakening that she finally got Lena to agree to lunch. Lena had begged out of every prior invitation, annual employee reviews taking more of her time than she thought. She finally invited Kara to have lunch with her in her office, letting Kara know that she couldn’t wait to see her, and Kara was positively giddy when she stood in the elevator ascending to L-Corp’s Executive floor, take out in hand.

Kara smiled at Jess when she approached Lena’s office, Kara removing her earbuds and turning off her third listen of Prince’s greatest hits that day as she stopped to say hello. “Hey Jess.”

“Hey, Kara,” Jess said, standing and slinging her purse over her shoulder. “Can you please let Ms. Luthor know I am running out to get her dry cleaning?”

“I will,” Kara said.

“Thank you,” Jess said, smiling widely. She put her employee badge in her purse and headed toward the elevators. “Bye.”

“Bye,” Kara said with a quick wave. She turned and knocked on Lena’s office door.

“Come in.”

Kara opened the door, ready to relay Jess’s message, but instead she stopped dead in her tracks, her mind momentarily wiped clean, as she took in Lena for the first time in a week. Lena, who was wearing a form-ftting red dress and red lipstick to match, slim black heels visible through the cut out in her white desk. Lena stood from her place at her desk and smiled at her warmly and affectionately. “Kara, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

Lena was devastatingly beautiful, and for a moment Kara felt the exact same way she had felt when she first heard ‘Little Red Corvette’ in the drugstore. Tingly. Slightly dizzy. And very, very confused about why that song was so strongly associated with Lena in her mind. “Uh.”

Lena’s brow quirked, amused by Kara’s speechlessness. Lena came around from her desk, meeting Kara where she stood frozen before her. “Is everything all right?” Lena asked as she wrapped her in a hug, and their bodies touching restarted Kara’s brain. She hugged her back, careful not to smash the bags of food in her hands against Lena’s very expensive, very silky soft dress. Soft. Was Lena always so soft? And curvy? Kara gulped. “Thank you for bringing lunch,” Lena said as she backed out of their hug. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get away.” Lena took the bags from Kara’s hands and walked to the couch. She started to unpack the food before doing a double take to where Kara stood staring at her. “Kara?”

“Yes,” Kara said suddenly before smiling. “That’s. That’s me.”

“Are you sure you’re OK?” 

“Yup.” Lena smiled and Kara moved to sit by her side. They started to eat, and with every forkful of food to pass through Lena’s red lips, Kara became more and more confused by the feelings swirling inside of her. They finished eating and a long companionable silence fell between them, Kara studying Lena like she was a test. Suddenly Kara blurted, “Do you like Prince?”

Lena’s brows arched in surprise. “Prince?”

“The musician. Do you like him?”

“Yeah,” Lena said with a chuckle and nod of her head. “I went through a pretty substantial Prince phase.” Kara nodded, interested, and Lena continued. “I listened to him a lot when I was at boarding school. Teenage hormones.” Lena blushed and Kara licked her lips.

“What’s your favorite Prince song?”

“Oh,” Lena said, surprised. “Uh, ‘Darling Nikki’,” she said quickly. As soon as she thought about her answer, her blush turned bright red and she briefly hid her face, dropping her hand to her lap with a charming tilt of her head. “That’s probably embarrassing to admit, right?” 

“I, don’t know that one,” Kara said innocently, and Lena stammered in reply.

“Well, it’s really good.” She exhaled, trying to regain her cool. She took in a quick breath and smiled. “It was teenage-me’s favorite when I was really into Prince.” Kara nodded her head, silently filing away the song title to listen to later. “Do you have a favorite Prince song?”

“Oh, I just started listening to Prince, so I’m not like, an expert of anything,” Kara said as casually as possible fiddling with her glasses, and Lena’s mouth opened into a perfect ‘O’. Kara stared at Lena’s lips, her skin raising into goosebumps, before blurting, “But probably ‘Little Red Corvette’.”

“Good one,” Lena said with the authority of a connoiseur. “So what sparked the Prince listen?”

“I just, heard a song at a store and thought I’d see what the fuss was about.”

Lena smiled. “You know my mother called him a Michael Jackson knock off once.”

“Uh, no,” Kara said, laughing, and Lena joined her, the two devolving into giggles. “I mean, if I didn’t think there was something wrong with your mother before…”

“Seriously,” Lena said, their laughs winding down. Lena cocked her head. “I’m so glad you could meet me today. I’ve missed you.”

“Me too,” Kara said sincerely. She reached out and grabbed Lena’s fingers, playing with them as she said, “We need to hang out more.”

“Yeah, yeah, that would be great,” Lena stumbled, and Kara smiled at her brightly. They sat side-by-side, fingers sliding against each other’s, quietly enjoying each other’s company for a long moment.

“Do you think L-Corp could spare you for a movie night next week at my place?”

“Yes,” Lena said, looking at Kara fondly. There was a knock at the door, and Lena pulled her fingers free, a light blush climbing up her neck. “Yes?”

Jess popped her head in with a smile. “You’re 1 o’clock is here.”

“And that’s my cue,” Kara said, standing and grabbing the empty bags of food and her purse. 

“Thank you, again,” Lena said as Jess ducked out.

“Of course. My place, next Tuesday?”

“Next Tuesday,” Lena said with a smile and solemn nod. 

“Bye,” Kara said, pulling Lena into a one-armed hug. She sighed as she pulled away, and offered a brief wave over her shoulder as she left. Once outside of the office, Jess reached out for the bags of trash, which Kara gave over with a thank you, and then Kara was off to the bank of elevators. She popped her headphones in and searched Spotify for Lena’s favorite Prince song as she waited for the elevator doors to open. Once they did, she stepped into the elevator and pressed play. 

‘Darling Nikki’ started, and Kara bobbed her head to the relatively slow beat. The guitar was nice. Kind of raw, not as polished as the other songs of his that she was familiar with. And then Prince started to sing, and Kara’s face went bright red, her jaw dropping open in shock. She barely made it through the first stanza before she fumbled to press stop on her phone with shaking hands, her heart pounding against her rib cage. The song stopped abruptly and she ripped the earbuds from her ears, jumping slightly when the doors to the elevator opened and people from another floor climbed on board. Kara smiled awkwardly at them and folded herself into the corner of the elevator, mind racing and skin on fire. 

The lyrics. Oh my god, the lyrics. _That_ was Lena’s favorite Prince song? 

Kara walked back to CatCo, careful to concentrate on walking a normal speed. She saw her reflection in the CatCo elevator doors in the lobby, and worried that the blush on her skin was becoming permanent. The rest of the day passed in a foggy blur. She got home and tried to ignore her curiousity about the rest of the song, making it through dinner and one TV show before she gave in and climbed into bed with her headphones. She listened to the song in whole furtively, almost as if she played it out loud to herself alone in her apartment, that everyone—Lena especially—would know that she had listened to a song that mentioned masturbating and that she loved it. After seven additional listens, and a quick Google search to confirm that the lyrics were exactly what she thought they were, she spent the next four hours staring wide-eyed at her ceiling, wondering how in the world she had gotten to this point in her life. 

*******************************************************

Almost a week later, and Kara was convinced that Prince was ruining her life, and that perhaps he had been a Fifth Dimensional imp, much like Mr. Mxyzptlk. How else could she explain how his music had infected her, how much feeling it inspired, how much it made her want things that she’d never considered wanting before?

Like Lena.

That realization had hit Kara like a ton of bricks. A dream, the night she had first listened to ‘Darling Nikki’, a dream that like the many other Prince-inspired dreams before it, left her turned on beyond belief upon waking. Only this dream had starred Lena. And the kicker? Every dream after that starred Lena. And then Kara started thinking about the dreams when she was awake, adding to them, embellishing them– 

She was becoming obsessed with the idea of kissing Lena. And more.

Kara was so distracted by the thought of _doing stuff_ with Lena, that she almost cancelled on their movie night. She didn’t trust herself to act normally, and she was terrified to tell Lena the truth of the thoughts that had been ping ponging around her brain for the last week. How would she even do that? _Hey, funny story Lena, I listened to your favorite Prince song and now I’m super gay for you?_ Kara wanted to fly, red-faced, into the trophosphere every time she thought of it.

When Tuesday night rolled around and Lena knocked on her door, Kara thought about leaving out the window. She could always text her later, tell her she got tied up at work but no, no that was stupid. Lena was her friend. These feelings, Kara rationalized, were just, song echos. She was just lonely, Lena was just so nice, she was projecting, she was just _going through some things because of Prince._

It wasn’t like she was in love with Lena.

Kara opened the door to her apartment and stood there slack jawed. She stared at Lena and realized that yup, she was definitely in love with her. Lena smiled, and Kara knew there was no way she’d get through the night without saying something that would completely embarrass both of them. She gripped the edge of the door jamb and heard the wood subtly crack.

“Check out what I found buried in my closet,” Lena said, a huge smile on her face as she opened up her jacket wide and pointed to the faded black t-shirt she wore underneath. Kara looked down, and when she got over the fact that she was bascially being invited to stare at Lena’s breasts, she realized that the t-shirt featured Prince sitting on a motocycle. “It’s my old _Purple Rain_ shirt from my boarding school days,” Lena said proudly, her pony tail swishing behind her as she righted herself and let go of her jacket lapels. “You can have it if you want.”

Kara looked up and met Lena’s eye, and the thought of peeling the shirt from Lena’s body made Kara break out in a light sweat. When Kara didn’t speak, or invite her in, Lena’s smile faltered. “Did you forget we’d made plans to watch a movie tonight?” When Kara didn’t answer, Lena’s face fell further. “Did I get the wrong night?” She started to rummage in her bag for her phone when Kara’s hand on hers stopped her. Lena looked up innocently and Kara felt like she was going to burst. She dropped her hand and spoke.

“Do you ever think about kissing me?”

Lena’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. “I’m sorry?”

“Do you ever think about kissing me,” Kara repeated, her gaze intense.

Lena’s face went bright red before the color ran out of it completely. She looked to the ground, stammering. “Look, Kara, I, I know I may act a certain way, but I want to assure you that I would never do anything to–”

“Because I think about kissing you all the time.”

Both women stared at each other like they couldn’t believe the words Kara had spoken were said outloud.

“Oh.”

Kara’s eyes flicked to Lena’s lips, that perfect red ‘O’ again, and she began to babble, her cheeks matching Lena’s lipstick shade. “I know this is coming out of nowhere, it came out of nowhere for me too, well not nowhere, I was at the drugstore buying band-aids a couple of weeks ago and this Prince song came on–”

“Little Red Corvette?” Lena murmured, dazed.

“Yes!” Kara said, eyes going almost impossibly wide. “And it reminded me of you, so I downloaded it and then I downloaded a bunch of other Prince songs, and then when you said you liked ‘Darling Nikki’–”

“Oh my god,” Lena whispered, embarrassed.

“I think about kissing you all the time,” Kara said. “And I did not think this through, but, Lena, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever known, and very sexy, and you make me feel like how I feel when I listen to Prince.”

Lena just stared at her.

“So, do you? Ever think about–”

“Yes,” Lena breathed out.

“Good,” Kara said before stepping forward and kissing Lena. The kiss was solid, sensual, and they broke apart slowly, Lena’s eyes still closed, and Kara waited for them to open before she spoke again. “I’m really into consent–” 

“OK,” Lena interrupted before she stepped forward and kissed her. Kara’s hands immediately slid beneath Lena’s jacket, her hands pressing against the soft fabric of her well-worn _Purple Rain_ shirt, and Lena groaned into their kiss, before pushing Kara into the apartment and shutting the door behind them with her foot.

*******************************************************

It wasn’t all smooth sailing after that. Lena was hurt when Kara revealed her identity, and it took some time for them to work out what a relationship looked like for a Luthor and a Super under National City’s intense gaze. But they got through it, their affection for each other intact, their love deepening with each day they spent together. Friends turned to lovers. Lovers turned to family. Special evenings spent making dinner with Prince playing softly in the background.

Their first dance at their wedding was to ‘Purple Rain’, and it was 8 minutes and 40 seconds where nobody else on Earth existed but them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
